


°˖✧◝ ground control ◜✧˖°

by crisbarakart



Category: All Time Low (Band)
Genre: Alien AU, Aliens, Aliens Made Them Do It, Alternate Universe - Aliens, Band Fic, Bands, Bandslash, Based on an All Time Low Song, Conspiracy Theories, Cute gay shit, Everyone Is Gay, Gay, Jack being Jack, Jalex - Freeform, Jealous Alex, Jealous Jack, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Night Adventures, Slow Burn, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Weird Plot Shit, alex is confused, alex is kind of a jerk, alex is whipped too, aliens exist, all time low au, all time low being gay, area 51, blue haired jack barakat, but not really, cassadee and rian will forever remain a side-ship for my fanfics, does anyone even read all this?, emo jack, he just thinks he's not gay but boiii, is more fluff and adventures than anything, jack barakat / alex gaskarth, jack has a crush on alex, jack heart eyes barakat, jack is the bullied emo kid, jack is whipped, kinda angsty but not really, lisa is nice because in this house we are feminists and we don't turn girls into bitches, pining Jack, sorry lisa your man's gay, very fluffy cause i love fluff, very gay, we stan girls, yes i had to be that cliché, zack and rian are football players but not assholes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-05-16 12:13:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14811179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crisbarakart/pseuds/crisbarakart
Summary: "I'm gonna break into Area 51.""Wow," He said. "I knew you were the real shit."Alex was looking for an adventure. Jack just happened to have the biggest crush on Alex.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello fellow earthlings ~!  
> i came here with a new and weird (but cool, i promise) jalex fanfiction. at this point i feel like i only write weird stuff lol.
> 
> anyway, i hope you enjoy it~♡

Have you ever felt like something's missing? Or like you're missing out on something great, as if everything good is happening somewhere else? As if your life is this thing where every single thing is planned and, even if it's a different day, the days end up blurring into the same dull routine? The most interesting thing you can ever aspire to is to get a cool job, marry a nice and loving person and maybe have children. But, despite what we all used to see on TV, you're not going to wake up one morning and find out you're a superhero who's destined to save the world in an epic final battle, there's not going to be a zombie apocalypse to have you on the run fighting zombies to survive and its definitely very unlikely you live up to see something as an UFO crashing into your backyard.

And maybe that was all some people settled for, to study to get a stable job and to form a family. Maybe it was all they ever hoped for and they were quite content with how it all was meant to be.

As for me, life itself was pretty boring.

In my seventeen years, you could say that the most interesting thing that ever happened to me was when my family and I moved from our old house back in Essex, UK, to our current residence in the outskirts of Baltimore, USA, when I was seven. You could've thought I would've hated the idea of leaving my old house and my old friends behind, that I would throw a fit and make a whole tantrum about it, but starting over in a new place seemed quite exciting. It felt as such an adventure, specially when there's this whole image of America being so amazing and the place where dreams come true. Besides, it was fun sending letters to my friends back in the UK.

Now, however, I was already used to seeing the same faces and the same places, and I also knew that the so-called 'american dream' only worked for a few.

I craved something new.

I wanted adventures, secrets and, maybe, to fall unexpectedly in love with someone I would've never imagined I'd come to love.

And yet I was trapped in the backseat of life, watching my life go with someone deciding everything for me with the false illusion of me being who makes the choices. Because you are put inside a school, given the option of what classes to take, but, in the end, regardless of what subjects you chose, you'd still be in that place listening to a teacher who just puts up with all of that because they need the money to pay the bills.

I wanted a change.

I wanted things to change, to be different, yet there I was, at the same damn cafeteria as every other day, eating lunch with my two best friends, Zack and Rian. We had been friends pretty much since I moved here. We all had the same love for rock bands and very similar views in life. If there was something where we were different, though, was in the topic of sports. I wasn't that bad at sports, I could play my part when we were in P.E., I just was more interested in things such as music and TV series. Zack and Rian, however, were pretty fit and down to sports, because of that, they were part of the football team, which made them way more popular than I was. But, even if I wasn't as well known, I couldn't really complain, I got on well with everyone and they seemed to like me. Plus, being friends with those two dorks who happened to be two of the best football players of the team got me into every party and memorable social event that took place.

So yeah, you could say my life wasn't that bad, that I was living a good life compared to other people, but parties and football matches ended up being boring after some time.

I sighed and took a bite of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. God, I loved those. My love for pj sandwiches came from a long time back, and everyone knew I was a slut for those.

"What's wrong? Failed the math test from last week?" Asked me Rian, mocking me.

"I got a three-point-something, so I technically passed."

Zack winced, in response to how I almost failed. Sometimes I thought I had too much luck, that, or the teachers liked me.

"Then, what's wrong?" Zack said this time, taking a bite of his own sandwich.

I looked around the cafeteria, watching everyone in their groups, with their conversations, with their own dramas and problems. If you thought about it, it was almost difficult to get your head around the fact of how everyone had their own lives, how everyone was the main character of said lives.

"Aren't you tired of the same shit every day?" I ended up saying, straight to the point, looking back at them.

They exchanged looks and seemed to think about it.

Rian was the first to answer. "I mean, I'm pretty satisfied with how my life is."

"Yeah, some classes can be boring, sure, but football makes up for that." Agreed Zack, hi-fiving Ri.

And that was the thing, life wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either, there was something missing.

I sighed again. "But it's always the same shit. Don't you want something different to happen?"

They exchanged looks again and, at the end, Zack was the one to word the question. "Then what do you want to happen?"

I stayed silent for a moment. Right. What did I want? It was clear I wanted something exciting to happen but there wasn't much that could happen to a regular high school student. I wouldn't become a superhero nor a zombie. Given how life was, the most exciting and rebellious thing a teenager could do was drop out of school and run away somewhere. But where? How?

I sighed again.

"Right. Look, if you're going through some emo phase and 'life's shit' 'everyone's just the same' go somewhere new, meet new people, get a girlfriend, join a club. I don't know, man, you might as well become friends with that Barakat kid, seems pretty lonely and like he wants to be friends with you." I knew Rian didn't mean bad with that comment, but I still felt kind of hurt and offended at the fact that he would just look down on my existencial crisis like that.

I turned around, seeing how my friend was looking right behind me when he spoke about that Barakat dude and, sure enough, there he was, sitting alone in one of the tables in the back of the cafeteria. When he saw me looking at him, he quickly averted his gaze and focused on his food.

I didn't know much about him, I just knew that he moved to the USA when he was a kid, just like me -even though I didn't know where he originally came from-, and that he was your typical example of outcast and bullied emo kid. The bullies were usually football players, so at least I was glad my two friends here didn't join the ones who liked to do such things to people. That was just making somebody else's life rougher.

I stared at him for a bit longer, taking in how he seemed to want to make himself smaller, or disappear, as if he was deeply hoping to go unnoticed. I felt bad for him. I considered for a second what Rian said, to stand up and go talk to him, but I didn't want to stand out and have the football team on my ass either, and I also didn't know what to tell him if I did go talk to him, so I discarded that option, turned around and kept talking with my friends until lunch was over and we were forced to sit in a deathly boring class for some more hours.

~*~

I was kind of offended with how Rian and Zack, my own best friends, didn't understand nor mind my existential crisis. I wanted to do something big, different and memorable and there they were, taking me for an emo kid who should join band club. Maybe that worked for them, maybe it was enough to exhaust themselves with football practice, socialize with the team and win match after match. It might've given them some sort of life purpose.

At the same time, they were right, there was just so much a seventeen-year-old student could do, even more when even I didn't know what was I looking for. Maybe I should listen to them, join some club so I would stop wasting all afternoon on Netflix and find a girlfriend. Live the ordinary life.

"Emo-Alex! Want a ride home?"

I turned around to see Zack's car and Rian, riding shotgun, sticking his head out the window. I stuck out my middle finger out for Rian, while he just laughed it off, and I got closer to the car.

"I thought you guys had football practice."

Rian looked kind of pissed off, as if I had just asked the worse question one could've made.

"Don't even mention it, the match's in a few weeks and practice got cancelled."

"It probably has to do with Matt and the rest of the guys getting in trouble with bullying people and acting like douches." Added Zack, rolling his eyes, as to show just how done they both were with those guys always getting in trouble and the rest of the team having to suffer the consequences for something they had nothing to do with.

"It's sort of like team unity," Zack had explained before, because this wasn't the first time it happened, in fact, it happened almost twice per month. "if we are a team, we have to be together and stop others if they do bad things and support them on the good things. I don't know, the coach can be so annoying with those things. We are a team, but that doesn't make us all best friends or brothers, and it doesn't make sense punishing the ones who didn't do anything because of the idiots that like to bully people to show their superiority. And the fact that Matt's the captain of the team just makes it worse." 

The car behind Zack's honked the horn, since Zack had stopped the car in the middle of the road and Zack shouted a quick 'sorry' out the window before turning to me again. "So, you coming?"

I nodded and jumped in the backseat before the car behind us decided to drive over us.

We made it to my house in the usual ten minutes, since my house wasn't that far from school, with the sound of our favorite rock bands playing through the stereo in full volume. I got out the car just as Basket Case was starting to play in the background.

"See you tomorrow, 'Lex." Said Zack.

"Consider joining some club, dude, watching so much Netflix isn't doing you good."

I rolled my eyes at Rian, who never missed an opportunity to mess with me, and waved goodbye, heading towards the front door as they drove off.

Even if my friend said I should stop watching so much Netflix, that's exactly what I did as soon as I got home. I got some snacks, turned on my laptop and pressed play on a new episode of some random series I was currently watching. I watched episode after episode until I decided I better start working on my math homework if I didn't want to risk losing that precious five and fail for sure this time. However, being the big procrastinator I was, I only got to take my school supplies out along with the math book and get half an exercise done, before leaving it all next to my laptop and go on YouTube to watch videos.

What first intended to be a five minute break -or more like a 'five minutes and I definitely start on my homework this time'- ended up becoming hours when I found myself falling into the dark hole of binge watching YouTube videos. Youtube really was a dark place, you clicked on one video but then some video on the bar of videos on the right just seemed so interesting, you couldn't just not click and close the tab, you needed to know more about what you read on the title of the video. 

So, at that point, after spending all afternoon in that loop of watching video after video, I was so into conspiracy theories that I couldn't just drop it to solve algebra problems instead.

It was then, watching a video about Area 51, after having watched several alien-related videos, that it occurred to me. That was the change, the adventure I was looking for. I was going to break into Area 51.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alex is crazy and obsessed with aliens (just like me)
> 
> -cris xx


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for the kudos and comments :)

I knew talking about this with my friends was useless. Honestly, talking with anyone about it would be useless. They would think I had completely lost my mind -which maybe, considering I was planning how to break in one of the most secured and top secret places on earth, I had indeed lost it. But I had enough of an obsession for aliens and space and a craving for adventures to try it.

It was early Wednesday morning and I had gone earlier to school so I could use the library's computers to search for information of Area 51. I wasn't that dumb to use my own laptop at home, it was known by anyone by now that the government controlled us, spied on us and could know anything they wanted to know about us within a time span of a few minutes. Of course, by using the school's computers I was also exposing myself, but it would be harder to spot the person who was googling like crazy stuff about Area 51 among hundreds of students.

I was reading an article that stated that Area 51 was supposed to have much more facilities than it was shown to public eye -by that meaning the few images of the buildings that Google Maps could provide-, being the most interesting part the fact that they were supposed to be underground. The idea of them having an underground base where they could maybe run experiments on aliens just tickled my curiosity about the place way more. I hadn't finished reading it all when I heard the first bell ring, I quickly went and printed a few Google articles, picked my things and rushed out to class.

I didn't make it very far, though, before I crashed into something, or more like someone. Almost as if it was one of those movie-like scenes, all of my Area 51 articles went flying in to the floor, just as the papers of the person I had just collided with. I took a quick glance of the person in front of me, realizing it was the Barakat kid, before saying a quick 'sorry' and kneeling down to pick up all of my papers. Barakat did the same, uttering a very embarrassed and anxious 'sorry', as if he was terribly afraid he would get into trouble with me for crashing into me and making this paper-mess, and he also got down to pick up his stuff, which, by the looks of it, looked like notes for a history test.

"Fuck! I forgot we had a history exam today!" I exclaimed, as soon as I saw the guy's notes. I was in so much trouble.

He let out a soft laugh. "You can always sit in the back row and try to cheat."

The second and final bell rang and I saw Barakat -what on earth was his name?- picking the rest of his papers quickly. I stayed there, staring at him. He had dyed blue hair, a soft tone, the kind that reminded you of a clear blue sky in a spring morning, deep brown eyes and, although I wasn't that familiar with the band, I could see he was wearing a Blink-182 t-shirt. It was always nice seeing someone else wearing band merch, it made you feel as if you saw one of your comrades.

He seemed... interesting. It made me re-think what Rian and Zack said about befriending him. Maybe we could really become friends and talk about bands and even go together to shows.

Before I could even react and taking me out of my own world of fantasy where I was already imagining how it would be to go to a Green Day concert with the Barakat kid, the blue-haired got up and, rushing out a quick good-bye, run off to class.

I sighed.

First period: History failure.

~*~

Just as expected, the history test didn't go so well for me, although, luckily enough, I managed to answer a few questions of things I remembered the teacher explaining in class. I guess it was good that I was on my own in that class in that sense, this way I didn't have neither Rian nor Zack to talk to and, therefore, get distracted. So I guess that, at least, I wouldn't receive a zero when the results came. In fact, counting the points of each question, I could maybe get a three, or a two being pessimistic. I could still save this subject before the semester ended.

After some more classes, it was lunch time. The class before lunch had stretched on, as per usual, thanks to the English teacher we had, who liked to go on with his class even after the bell rang. Sometimes I thought it would be better if that old man retired already, given that some days it felt as if he just wanted some people to talk to. It was a good class to get credits, though, since his exams were easy to pass.

Rian, Zack and I were all in that class, none of us wanting to miss the opportunity of getting almost-free credits. We were all ready to go to the cafeteria when my two friends were stopped by a group of their teammates, wanting to talk about something about practice or the upcoming match. At the end, I decided to leave them with the football players and go look for a table at the cafeteria and save them some spots for when they were done talking and came join me at the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was as full as always and, having left the class later than most of these people, it was even harder to spot a free table. I managed to see one at the back and went there quickly before anyone else would spot it too.

As I was hungry and I didn't know how much it would take my friends to come -when this happened, they could either spend five minutes talking or all lunch period- I began eating by myself. I had just taken a few bites of my sandwich when I saw the same boy I bumped into this morning at the entrance of the cafeteria, anxiously looking for a place to sit.

I stared at him once more, feeling terribly sorry for him as I saw him awkwardly stand there, eyeing all the place. I was about to stand up and tell him to come sit with me -the guy seemed cool enough to join our little group, he had dyed hair and seemed to share our music interests- when we locked eyes and he quickly made its way to the table I was sitting at. I watched him with a frown of confusion as he approached me, until he was right in front of me.

"Uh, hi." He mumbled, shyly, not quite meeting my eyes or even daring to look at me, instead, looking at the floor. "I think I might've took some of your papers from this morning's encounter, I just came to give them back to you."

I watched him as he rummaged through his backpack and took a few of my Area 51 articles, handing them back to me. I took them, whispering an embarrassed 'thank you' and threw them inside my own backpack, not really caring about whether or not they crumpled. I was kind of embarrassed at the fact that some stranger had seen all that, I didn't need people knowing I had a not-so-healthy obsession with aliens and just anything that had to do with that topic. And, for some reason, it made me even more embarrassed the fact that he had seen that part of me. It was silly, I didn't even care that much about him, I just thought he looked kind of cool.

"So, uh, I'll... I'll leave now."

I watched as he picked up his backpack again and I took a quick general look at the cafeteria again, seeing that there still weren't any available sits. I felt bad, imagining him going back to awkwardly standing by the door.

"Wait." I said, causing him to look back at me, surprised. "You can sit here if you want, it looks like my friends will spend lunch with the football dudes and there doesn't seem to be any free tables so..."

I sort of left the sentence hanging in the air, not sure of how to end it because, even if the Barakat guy seemed very awkward, I wasn't that far from being it myself either. He stood there for a few seconds, as if considering my offer and, after another glance at the cafeteria area, decided to sit down in front of me with a soft 'okay'.

"Name's Alex, by the way." I said, stretching out my hand.

He took it. "Jack."

I finally knew his name.

For some time, we just sat there in silence, munching at our food. In the background, I could hear the voices of all the people eating there, in their own conversations. It was so noisy, sometimes being so loud that you even had to rise your voice to talk to the people you were siting with, but, at the same time, I couldn't imagine eating lunch there without all that hubbub.

I was kind of eavesdropping on the conversation the table next to us was having, not having anything else to entertain me since I had no one to talk with and phones weren't really allowed, being some conversation about something a girl of that group of friends had done, when Jack spoke again.

"So, how'd the test went?"

I stared at him in confusion, not really knowing what was he talking about.

"The history test?" He added, I guess that seeing my confused look, rising an eyebrow.

"Oh." I said, finally catching up on what he was talking about and mentally face-palming because it was the only exam I had that day and the only one we had talked about. "Well, y'know, better than expected but I'll still be lucky if I pass."

"If you have the same amount of memory remembering dates and history events as you do remembering things that happened just a few hours ago I wouldn't be surprised." He said, playfully.

"Yeah." I laughed, and he did the same.

He had a nice laugh, one that invited you to tag along, one that seemed to make whatever was funny even funnier.

"Well, it's good you remembered something since you forgot about the exam and instead you were looking at... What was it? Area 51 articles? What's up with that, you like conspiracy theories and aliens?"

I froze in spot, terribly embarrassed. I knew I was a weirdo, but, frankly, I had enough with my friends' teasing, I didn't need any other to join in. But of course, he would've looked at it. He took some papers that weren't his and it was human curiosity to pry on and read what it was written there. Even when someone says 'don't worry, I didn't look', they sure as hell did, because, in most cases, curiosity is over respecting the other's privacy.

"It's nothing." I said, without really knowing what to say. "I was just bored and... I don't know, ended up looking up shit about NASA and Area 51, these organizations are cool... and shit."

He stared at me in confusion, with an eyebrow raised, in silence, and I stood there wanting the earth to swallow me and never let me go back to human civilization again because god, I was such a disaster when it came to human interaction.

Just then, the bell rang, indicating that lunch was over, and I couldn't be more thankful of it.

"W-Well... I gotta rush to class, I've got math and you know how Mrs Bradley is." I let out, taking my stuff in a rush and leaving.

I didn't even spare him a last glance as I rushed out of the cafeteria and into my next class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyone else who's super awkward???? 
> 
> alsooo i'm not american and my knowledge on american stuff that appears here (you know, american football, school stuff) is based off on what i can look up on google, what i've seen in movies and what i know because of having an american best friend so i'm sorry if i mess up somewhere 
> 
> -cris xx


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> might've done this chapter EXTREMELY long oups enjoy?

A few days had passed since the disastrous paper-mess, where I managed to embarrass myself in front of the school's emo kid, to the point where I couldn't even look at him. I felt bad though, he looked like a cool guy, seemed nice enough when we talked –even if it was a short conversation–, and now I was giving him the cold shoulder.

Thankfully enough, it was already Friday. Not only did that mean that I had a two-day break from school, but also that I wouldn't have to awkwardly avoid looking at the poor guy like an idiot. So, when the last class of the week ended, I was quick to leave that boring class and rush to the entrance to meet my friends.

I found them talking with the football players by the door.

"Hey, what's up, Alex?" One of them greeted me, Sean. He was always nice to me, but I knew he wasn't that nice with everyone –specially not with the victims he decided to bully. He was also Matt's best friend, had been for a long time, which pretty much made him tag along on anything Matt did, including the bullying.

"Hey, Sean." I greeted him too, joining the group by the door, doing the typical guy-shoulder-bump with him, as well as with the other two football players, Jacob and Nathan.

"So, you coming to tonight's party?" Jacob asked me.

"I don't know..." I trailed off, to be honest, I wasn't really in the mood for a party that night, I just felt like staying in my room playing videogames and watching series until late.

"Oh, come on, man!" Nathan said this time, passing an arm around my shoulders in a friendly manner. Although we weren't really friends, they always acted as if we had this deep bound or as if we'd been friends our whole lives. "You definitely have to come, something cool's gonna happen!"

I frowned in confusion. What was so cool about a party? It would be the average party at Matt's big-ass house, loud music playing through the speakers, alcohol and people making out. Nothing that extraordinary cool. I looked at all of them, to see if anyone would further explain that 'cool thing' that was going to happen and, when my eyes landed on Rian and Zack, I saw how they didn't seem to find whatever was supposed to be cool that cool. They looked like they were trying to smile and pretend it was great just to blend in with the team, a thing that happened more often than they would admit. I really didn't get why would they stick with a group of people who did questionable things that they didn't like, just for football.

"What's gonna happen?" I asked, faking being excited and interested about it, even though I knew I most likely wouldn't share their views of 'cool' on the topic.

Sean playfully hit Nathan in the arm. "Come on, dude, don't spoil the surprise."

Nathan let me go and let out a short laugh before turning to me again. "Let's just say a special guest will be joining us tonight."

I frowned again but, before I could even open my mouth to respond, my friends were dragging me to the car.

"We'll convince this idiot to come too, guys." Zack said, having his arm around my neck and guiding me to his car, along with Rian. "We gotta go now. See you later."

In the distance, I heard the others say their good-byes.

I turned to my friends, in confusion, not understanding why they dragged me out of there in such a rush.

"What was that? Are you in such a rush to eat your mamma's cookies?" I asked Rian, jokingly, knowing very well how much he liked those cookies; I remembered how he would always be so selfish with them and not let us eat them, till his mom came and told him off for it.

He gave me a glare and sighed.

"We just didn't want you to keep on making questions and eventually, when they told you the 'cool thing'," Rian said, tracing quotation marks in the air with his fingers, making it clear that whatever it was, it wasn't cool at all. "freak out and make a scene."

"I wouldn't–"

"Alex, don't even deny the fact that you are a scene-maker." Zack cut me out before I could say anything.

I folded my arms over my chest and frowned. "I just don't see what's so bad in standing up for what you think it's right."

They both made a face, as if they were done with dealing with me.

"Look, just drop it, you don't wanna get on their bad side." Zack said, pressing the button on his car keys to open the car and opening the driver's car door.

"Yeah, because god help me, they're the kings of the high school reign and who dares go against their will." I said ironically, rolling my eyes.

"Not again, Alex, you know we don't approve of certain things they do but–" Rian said, leaning against the shotgun car door with his arms folded too.

"But what!?" I said, lifting my arms. "You're just gonna let them bully kids, act like total douches and as if being on the football team makes you superior?"

They didn't say anything, instead, they stared at the floor, ashamed, because they knew that what I was saying was true. Because the furthest they'd gone against that bunch of idiots was saying something along the lines of 'hey, maybe you should leave the loser be, it's not worth wasting time on' and, most of the times, that didn't even stop them from beating up said 'loser'.

"Yeah, exactly." I said, in response to their silence.

"Just get in the car, Alex. I'll drive you home."

I looked to the side, laughing, laughing at the fact that they just wanted to drop the topic and not talk about it.

"Forget it, I'll walk." I simply said, walking past them, heading home.

Rian sighed, frustrated, as if he was just so done with my attitude.

"Don't be like that, 'Lex."

I turned around from where I was standing. "No, it's okay, I don't wanna be on your bad side either."

Rian, who was more likely to lose patience faster that Zack, rolled his eyes.

"Don't be such a drama queen."

And that was the last thing I needed to hear for me to leave and go back home walking by myself, mad. I ignored them calling out my name and I also ignored them when they drove by my side with Zack's car, trying to make me get in the car and stop being mad at the situation. At the end, seeing that it wouldn't work because, having been friends for this long they knew how stubborn I could get to be, they let me be.

However, not long after I was already home, I received a text from Rian. 'Just come to the party'. I dropped the phone on my bed, going back to playing video games, still angry at him and at how he only seemed to care about enjoying that stupid party.

~*~

Even if I said I wouldn't go, there I was, in the backseat of Zack's old car heading to Matt's house. Really, I didn't quite know why I decided to go. It wasn't as if my friends' apologies were that convincing –because I could clearly see right through them and know that, even if they apologized, they'd still keep the same friendly attitude with these football idiots– and it also wasn't as if I was dying to go to your generic high school party. Maybe I just wanted to get drunk and shut the world off for a night. That, and the curiosity to know which target was going to suffer some kind of abuse that night.

"I heard Lisa broke up with her boyfriend this week." Zack casually said while driving, they knew I had a crush on her since eighth grade and they never missed the opportunity to bring her up on conversations.

"She broke up with Dylan?" Asked Rian, sounding kind of surprised, which wasn't that rare; as much as it hurt me, they made such a good couple. Zack just nodded. "Well, at least now Alex can go for her, we can go talk with her and Cassadee tonight."

Cassadee was Lisa's best friend and Rian's crush. Both girls were pretty and popular, the kind of girls everyone wanted to be with.

While Rian ranted about how we just had to go there with some drinks and talk to them, we made it to Matt's house and Zack parked the car in front of the house, next to the rest of the cars that were starting to gather around the football team's captain house.

"We'll find you a cute girl too, Zack." Rian concluded, as to not make him feel left out, getting off the car as Zack and I did the same.

We crossed the street and walked to the front door, which was opened, welcoming in anybody who wanted to come inside the mess of loud music, teenagers and alcohol.

My two friends were quick to find their teammates and went over to greet them while I, having had enough of them and of fake liking them from this afternoon at school, decided to head over to the kitchen to get myself a drink.

I got some of the punch there was on top of the kitchen counter, avoiding a couple who were already making out, and went back to the room where most people were and where I left my two best friends. However, they must've gone somewhere else, because I couldn't see them anywhere.

I walked around the house in search for them, mad at the fact that I had mainly gone to the party because of them and they just abandoned me and ditched me for the football players, occasionally stopping to re-fill my plastic red glass with more punch. I mean, at least I'd look less out of place and like I was actually enjoying the party with a drink in hand.

After about half an hour looking for them in the sea of drunk teens that was flooding Matt's house, I spotted them in the same place I left them. I was about to go with them when I noticed something else. Someone had just entered the house and had all eyes on them, moreover, they didn't look at said person invitingly or as if they were happy to see them; but mockingly and with despair. I noticed then, that it was Jack. And I also noticed what was happening, I realized just then that the 'cool thing' was about to begin.

The group of friends –being Matt, Sean, Jacob and Nathan– approached the blue-haired, Matt putting an arm around his shoulders in a friendly manner that almost made me puke from how fake it was.

I heard, in the background, people commenting on the situation. 'what's this loser doing here?' 'this is gonna be good' 'poor thing, why did he come here?'. I felt sick. I never liked to see these guys bully kids but with Jack... it felt as if it was worse. Maybe it was because he seemed nice, like he didn't deserve that at all. Maybe because I had never spoken with any of the other Matt and company's targets, and I did talk with Jack, enough to know that he definitely didn't seem to be the disgusting and stupid guy they said he was.

I followed them to the main area, where people were gathered, kind of like a living room, and I went next to my friends, maybe they knew better than I what was going on. However, before I could even say hello to my friends, Matt surrounded my shoulders with his free arm, the one that wasn't doing the same to Jack.

"Look who we've got here, I thought you weren't coming." He greeted me with a smile and I fake smiled to him. "You guys stay here, I'm gonna go get us all some drinks."

He let us go and, followed my Sean and Jacob, they headed for the kitchen while Nathan stayed talking with Rian and Zack.

I turned to Jack, greeting him with an awkward 'hi' and getting the same response from him. He looked awkward, more than usual, as if he knew as well as the others that that wasn't his place at all, that he looked out of place. Yet, still, there he was. And, honestly, I wished he wasn't there, because Matt and his friends were being nice to him so far, and I wanted to believe it was sort of a 'one-night exception', but I had a bad feeling about this all.

After some long and terribly awkward minutes, where both Jack and I literally just stood there looking around, the host and his friends came back with drinks they offered all of us. I was already kind of tipsy, but I took my red glass of vodka anyways.

Nathan came to join the others, leaving alone my best friends, and Rian rushed to me.

"Alex! I saw Lisa and Cassadee in the other room, let's go talk to them!" He told me, overexcitedly, being clear that he had enough drinks to be already drunk. Not that drunk, but drunk nonetheless.

I tried to turn down the offer, to talk him into going later, but he wouldn't listen, he was already too lost in the alcohol and teenage hormones to pay attention to what I was saying. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to go talk with Lisa just as much as he wanted to talk with Cassadee, I liked her; but I was kind of worried about Jack. Something was off.

At the end, I couldn't do anything and I was dragged to the other room by Rian.

We saw the girls dancing, drink in hand, with some other girls. My eyes immediately went to Lisa. She was just so beautiful, every little detail of her was perfect. Her sweet smile, her long hair, the dress she was wearing fitting perfectly on her petite body.

Rian, being way less shy than me –and with the alcohol reducing that shyness even more– and taking full advantage of his jog high school status, went to them and greeted them.

"Hey, Cass, Lisa, having fun?" He said.

They smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, Matt's parties are always fun" Said Cassadee.

It didn't take them much to break into a conversation just between the two of them, ending up in Rian going with the girl back to the kitchen so she could re-fill her already empty glass, leaving Lisa and I alone.

For a few seconds, we just stood there, Lisa mindlessly swaying to the music.

"Wanna go out for a bit? It's getting hot here." She suggested and I quickly agreed because I could also use some fresh air.

We walked to the backyard and we ended up sitting in the lawn, right in front of the pool. In the summer, that pool was always full of people whenever there was a party or when Matt invited friends over, now, though, it was completely deserted, being too cold. Although, you couldn't really say it was never used in winter, seeing that there was always some joke or challenge that made someone end up inside the pool.

"It feels like it's been so long since we last talked." She broke the silence.

In the background, you could faintly hear the loud music and the shouting of people playing around. Aside from that, it was pretty quiet out there, with the occasional sound of cars passing by.

"Yeah, since Sean's party, I think."

"Yeah." She agreed, taking a sip of her drink. "So how are things going?"

I smiled. "Good, I guess. Barely passing math, though, maybe you should help me out with that after school again."

When we were in middle school, we used to hang out more than we did these days, she even helped me with math, since I've always sucked at that subject and she's always been so good at that, and I would help her with subjects she was bad at. Eventually, though, we stopped talking that much and now we only had occasional conversations in parties or at random occasions.

She let out a soft laugh. "Whenever you want."

We fell into a kind of uncomfortable silence, both just looking at the pool as it was the most interesting thing out there, until me, deciding that that conversation with my crush was going too well, decided to mess things up.

"So, you broke up with Dylan?" I asked and regretted it as soon as it left my mouth. Shit.

She looked at me with a small smile, it looked kind of forced, as if she still hadn't really got over the whole thing, and it made me feel like a total idiot for asking.

"Yeah, things weren't really working out."

That statement took me by surprise, since they looked like they belonged together and everyone at school was always commenting on how cute they looked together. I guess it was true that things weren't always as they seemed.

"Wow, to think everyone thought you were perfect for each other."

She looked at the pool again, making a face.

"I mean, he is a really nice guy, I was pretty satisfied with our relationship it's just..." She paused for a second, hesitant, or maybe doubtful about how to word it. "I think I like someone else."

In any other situation I would've felt like shit, because the girl I liked liked someone else, but, as she stared directly into my eyes, I caught up to what she was implying.

"I think I do too." I said, with a smirk, before closing the gap between us and kissing her.

I was kissing Lisa. I was kissing Lisa fucking Ruocco. The girl I had a crush on since eighth grade. Not only that, she also liked me back. Maybe it really was a good idea to go to the party after all.

When the kiss ended, we looked at each other for a few seconds before Lisa got up from the floor and ushered me to do the same and go inside to get something to drink because her glass was already empty.

After a while, Lisa said she and Cassadee were leaving, since they had to drive a few friends back home –some of them having had too much to drink and who'd better go back home and call it a night–, and gave me a kiss on the cheek, telling me she'd text me in the morning.

After they left, Rian went back to Zack and the others while I went to grab another drink, not having had enough of drinking, even though I couldn't really walk straight at this point and the room seemed to spin around too much. Then, drink in hand, I proceeded to go back to my friends, when there was a great uproar out of nowhere. I noticed everyone was rushing out, to the pool area, and followed them. Curious, I pushed pass people, swaying too much because, at this point, even standing up seemed like a big effort, and then I saw it. Jack.

He seemed so out of it. If I was very drunk, then I don't know how he was. He couldn't even stay put in one place, staggering and trying to get ahold of whatever. I saw the smirk on Matt and the other's faces, making my blood boil, and how he purposely spilled his drink on Jack's Green Day t-shirt.

"Aw, sorry, man. I didn't mean to stain your cool t-shirt, I guess I'm too drunk." He fake apologized, laughing with his friends.

Jack, however, looked at his stained t-shirt with a really hurt look, trying to clean it off by clumsily rubbing on the stain, obviously not doing anything to it.

"Dudeee," He babbled, stretching out the word in a whiny tone. "I really like this t-shirt."

The football players collectively let out a loud laugh, laughing at him.

I felt so fucking bad for him, I felt my stomach turn at the sight of what was taking place there. Jack was in such a sorry state, drunk as fuck, and they were just making fun of him, humiliating him further and further.

"Really? Well, I'm sure you can buy another as shitty as that one in any shop for losers like you." Matt said, dropping the act of trying to be nice with him and just letting out his true colors and his true intentions.

I heard the laughs and I felt the knot in my throat, seeing him being the product of laughs of everyone in that party, as if he was the clown hired to entertain the guests of a five-year-old kid's party –which, honestly, with such level of maturity, Matt did seem like a five-year-old kid, or maybe even five-year-old kids had more compassion than him. That was the 'cool thing', inviting the school's bullied emo kid to the party just to humiliate him in front of everyone.

I was ready to intervene, done with the situation and not being able to stand the sight of that anymore, not even caring one bit if I got myself on their 'bad side', as my friends said that afternoon, when I saw Zack and Rian step closer.

"Matt, dude, stop." Said Rian, still sounding pretty drunk.

The captain of the team looked at him with a mix of surprise and annoyance, as if he couldn't believe he even dared say anything in that situation. "Stop what? We're just having some fun, this is the show I promised you all."

He turned to the crowd of teenagers that came to the party, with his arms raised, and they all cheered. I wanted to think that they were too drunk to comprehend what was going on, that they weren't that heartless to enjoy someone else's suffering, but they probably were just as much of an asshole as Matt was.

"It's not funny, Matt, just leave him alone." Zack insisted, giving him a dead glare.

Zack was a nice guy, but if you got on his bad side, he could also be quite menacing. I guess Matt knew that too, maybe he had confronted that menacing side of my friend before, because he rolled his eyes and put his hands up in a defeating gesture.

"Okay, okay, I'm leaving him." He said. "I mean, I think he'd rather us leaving him alone so he'd have more privacy to take a quick dive in the pool."

No one really saw it coming and, before we could even react, Matt had pushed Jack off the edge of the pool into the freezing winter water.

As soon as I heard the splash, I turned to the pool and, to my horror, I saw Jack struggling inside the water, almost drowning. He was trying so hard to stay afloat, moving his extremities like crazy, yet without any sort of coordination, so messily. It was then, when I understood that alcohol was not the only thing that they'd given him. He was so out of it, so high, that he couldn't even manage to stay afloat.

I didn't even think twice before dropping my drink and my phone to the lawn floor–hopefully remembering I had it in my back pocket and that I'd be dead if my parents found out I jumped into a pool with my phone– and jumped into the freezing water to help Jack, not caring about all the looks and comments I received doing so. I swam the small distance that separated me from the blue haired and held him, letting him lean on me.

Matt looked at me in a way I couldn't really understand, it wasn't hatred, it wasn't surprise; it was almost as if he was expecting me to dive in to the pool but he was hopping I didn't, like he was hoping I'd stay loyal to him and let the 'loser' drown. I, however, did look at him with hatred, I wanted him to know I wasn't afraid of him, that I wasn't going to lower my head and let him do whatever he wanted. His eyes left mine and he moved on to send a death glare to both of my friends, before turning to the rest of the people still standing in the backyard watching the scene.

"Come on, let's go back in, it's cold out here and the party must go on now that we've taken out the garbage." He said to everyone, looking at Jack and I with a smirk while he pronounced the last two words.

Soon, everyone, except of my friends, Jack and I, left, leaving us out there.

I turned to Jack, he was shaking so much, I could see the clouds of his breath leaving his mouth, and so was I. The water was so cold that, even in my drunken state, I could feel it all over my body, cold as ice. I wondered if that was how people felt like when the Titanic sank.

"D-Do you think..." Jack said, looking at me, shaking uncontrollably, still holding onto me. "that this is how... Jack and Rose felt... when the Titanic sank?"

I let out a small laugh, thinking about how it was so funny that we were both thinking about the same thing then and there.

"Maybe," I answered, holding him closer. "but I won't let go, Jack."

He chuckled.

"Oh, my god, Alex. Are you okay?" Said Zack then, running to the edge of the pool and extending a hand out to me. "Here, let me help you get out."

"Fuck off."

Zack looked taken aback by my response. "What?"

"I said: fuck off." I repeated, glaring at him. "You were with them this whole time, you were there with Jack, and you couldn't stop them? You couldn't even tell him to stop drinking or them to stop giving him more and more alcohol?"

He looked down, as if he, himself, wasn't proud of it.

"I–."

"Oh, and that's if the only thing they've given him is alcohol, because the guy looks fucking out of it." I retorted, cutting him out, getting more and more angry.

Rian also got closer.

"Come on, Alex, just let us help you. I'm sure Zack did what he could."

I laughed.

"Oh, yeah, poor Zack." I mocked. "Telling some guys, supposedly who he's friends with, to stop giving alcohol, and probably also drugs, to a guy of his own school and year, he did what he could, don't blame him."

"We stood up for him." Rian stated.

While Zack looked ashamed and kind of down, as if he knew as well as I that he could've done more, Rian didn't seem ready to take part of the blame nor let Zack do it. He looked kind of pissed off, like he was ready to fight me at any moment.

I rolled my eyes, already done with them. I thought my friends were better than this, that even if they were part of the stupid football team they weren't stupid themselves, but I guess I was proved wrong.

"Just go away, I don't wanna talk about this now." I said, this time in a lower and more calmed voice. "I'll take care of him."

I was just so done with this all and, drenched in ice cold water, drunk and tired; it clearly wasn't the right moment to have this conversation.

Zack sighed, probably understanding that too.

"Okay, if you need me to drive you guys home or whatever just text me or call me or... whatever." He offered, awkwardly.

And with that, they both went inside. I wanted to think they were going to talk with Matt and the others, to confront him but, at this point and with all that happened, I wasn't sure that was possible.

I turned to Jack, who'd been quiet through the whole argument I had with my friends. Maybe he didn't want to get involved or maybe he just was too high to even care. I let out another sigh, making a cloud of breath leave my mouth as I did so, and swam to the edge of the pool dragging Jack with me. I helped him climb out the pool and, even if he offered to help me climb out too, I turned down his offer and climbed out myself because, in his state, I could see us falling into the water again.

"Get it, dumbass!"

I turned around at that shout and Zack, standing by the door that led to the backyard with Rian, shoved me a pair of towels before leaving again. I smiled, maybe I was being too hard on them, I didn't think they were that bad.

I gave one towel to Jack and used the other to towel dry my hair, however, I stopped as soon as I saw Jack, struggling to even unfold the towel and pulled a sad face. I took the towel from him and put it on his head, drying his blue hair for him.

"You know, I really like your hair." I commented, smiling at him. "It's like... a clear blue sky, the one you get to see on spring after a cold winter, when the weather gets nicer."

I saw the blush creeping on his cheeks and how he shyly averted his gaze, looking at the pool right in front of us.

"Thank you..." He whispered and I smiled again.

I covered him in the towel when I was done drying up his hair, at least, drying it all I could manage with only a towel, making sure he wasn't cold and that he stopped shaking so much.

"Alex..." He said, looking at me with a worried look. "You're shaking so much."

It was true, I was so focused on making sure that he was okay that I didn't even cover myself with the towel.

He pulled me closer, making me get into his towel with him, and used my towel to also cover us. I blushed at how close we were, our bodies were literally touching, I could feel his warmth.

"If I'm a clear blue sky on a spring day, you are like the sun on a cold winter day." He said then. "So bright, so warm; so out of reach and yet making you want to get closer and closer to it."

I was the one blushing like crazy this time.

He laughed.

"I don't even get why would you jump into a pool for me." He admitted.

He had this sad look on his face that made my chest hurt, because he seemed like the kind of guy you would risk jumping off a cliff for. Because just an hour ago I was kissing Lisa Roucco and now I couldn't care less about her, I was being dragged towards him like a magnet and I couldn't even comprehend how. Maybe I was just too drunk, because I couldn't possibly be falling for that guy.

"I don't get why you wouldn't." I said, thought, staring right into his eyes. Soft brown on brown, pulling me closer and closer, deeper and deeper.

"Well, it didn't seem like you would the other day at the cafeteria." He said, looking hurt by that.

I looked at the pool now, watching the moon reflected on it, thinking back to that moment and feeling kind of bad for it.

"I... I was just so embarrassed." I admitted, burying my face on his chest. "I mean I had a bunch of papers of Area 51, I looked like a total weirdo."

"I'm a total weirdo too."

I smiled and so did he.

We fell into a comfortable silence then, which the noise from the party behind us and the silence of the night in the street in front of us. It felt as if we fit together, as if we didn't need to do anything for it to be just right to be next to each other.

"What was that all about anyway?" He broke the silence, with the question I was dreading the most, there was no way he wouldn't think I was a total weirdo if I told him what was all about. But he added; "I promise I won't think you're a weirdo."

He looked at me in the eye, dead serious, as if he truly meant it, and I found myself opening up to him; because I felt as if I could really trust him.

"I don't know if you'd ever felt like this but... don't you feel like something's missing? Like your life is this thing where, no matter what, it's all planned? Like, it doesn't matter if I go to college or not, if you study this or that; you're still gonna end up in a job to pay some stupid bills. I want something more." I explained, with the blue-haired staring right at me, all his attention on me. "So I'm gonna break into Area 51."

He stared at me in silence for a few seconds, his expression difficult to read, and I thought he would just laugh at me and at how much of an idiot weirdo I was.

But he didn't.

"Wow," He said, instead. "I knew you were the real shit."


	4. Chapter 4

The weekend, as per usual, had flew by in the blink of an eye, with a lazy hungover Saturday and a Sunday of not really doing anything productive until the ends of it, when just a few hours before dinner, it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, I should get my school work done.

I hadn't heard anything about my friends, which wasn't surprising after the argument we had. Zack probably didn't really know how to approach the problem, because he could spend time and time thinking about something before actually getting the strength to talk with whoever he had a problem with; that, and the fact that, even if he wouldn't directly admit it, he really cared about others and didn't want to say the wrong thing. As for Rian, that guy forgot most stuff that happened when he drank, so he probably needed time to sort out the remaining memories in his head and some of Zack's help to fill in the missing memories. Whatever it was, I was also aware of the fact that I might've overreacted a bit, so I was going to talk with them and fix the problem on Monday. They should've stopped what happened with Jack, but I also knew that dealing with Matt and his friends wasn't the easiest most of the time. My friends weren't assholes, even if I treated them as if they were on the party.

Another thing that happened in the party was Lisa. I kissed her. And then she texted me the next day as promised. It's not like we had a really deep conversation, it was just casual talking, and, honestly, I didn't know where that put us. We didn't even talk about the kiss, we didn't talk about going out. In fact, if it wasn't for the kiss, I would've thought she just wanted to become closer friends again.

On Monday, since I wasn't really talking with my friends, I ended up taking the school bus; as much as I hated it. It was always so full of kids, shouting, so loud; it was almost like being in the cafeteria but with the difference that this one didn't stay still but moved.

I went to sit at one of the seats in the back, at the second-to-last two seats, and put on my earplugs on as to not have to hear anyone. It wasn't long, though, until I felt someone tap my shoulder. I pulled out one of my earplugs and looked at the person who was trying to get my attention. It was Jack.

"You also had to take the bus this morning?" He asked, motioning to the seat next to me, quietly asking if he could sit there, I just nodded. "I hate taking the bus but my car didn't feel like starting this morning." He sighed. "That makes two broken things, since my phone died in the pool."

I guess I had the opportunity to toss it aside before diving in, but, since he was pushed inside the water so suddenly and unexpectedly, he didn't have the chance.

"That sucks." I said, giving him a sympathetic look. "My friend Zack usually takes me to school, but –I don't know if you remember, you were pretty high– we argued so... yeah, I was kind of left on my own."

He pulled a face. "Yeah, sucks. I'm sorry you argued because of me."

I blew a laugh through my nose, sarcastically. Thinking about how it was pretty sad that he felt responsible of our fight when it wasn't his fault at all, he was the victim in all of this, it was everyone's fault but his.

"It's not because of you, my friends are in the team but they're not douches, even if they look like they are lately, that's what makes me mad."

He nodded, understandingly.

"I also wanted to thank you for helping me out on Friday." He said, looking at me straight in the eyes, just like on Friday night, making a small blush appear on my face because of the intensity of his stare. "If I knew they just invited me to put drugs on my drink and throw me into a pool in hopes I'd drown, I wouldn't have gone to the party."

I looked down, not knowing what to say and feeling so sad for him, again. He probably just wanted to have fun like any other teenager out there and instead got bullied.

"But," He spoke again. "if I hadn't gone, I wouldn't have talked with you and I would still be wondering why Mr. Alex Gaskarth carries around a bunch of Area 51 articles."

I looked at him wide-eyed, I didn't think he'd remember that or, if he did, that he would bring up the topic again. I just wanted to let it die, to talk about, I don't know, bands, and have him forget about how much of a freak I could actually be.

"Yeah..." I let out, awkwardly. "Just forget it."

He looked at me kind of confused.

"Why? It's such a cool plan."

I looked to the side, embarrassed. I just told him that because I was swimming in the confidence and lack of embarrassment alcohol gave you. Maybe to make him feel better too, since he just got pushed into a freezing cold-water pool. But now... it went back to the cafeteria situation and everything was embarrassing.

"Just forget what I told you, I know it's silly." I insisted, pushing past him to get out of the bus since we had already reached our destination.

He stayed put for a few seconds, until I heard him walk up to me again.

"It's not." He said, with a serious tone, like he wanted me to know he wasn't trying to make fun of me nor did he think it was silly in any way.

We got off the bus and we started to walk to the main entrance, where I could already spot my two friends waiting for me, probably wanting to talk, like me.

I stopped on my tracks, turning to look at him, who was following me like a lost puppy.

"Just. Forget. It." I said, coming out a bit too harsh, making me regret saying it in that tone the moment I saw his face drop. I didn't want to make him feel like his bullies did; yet I probably did with those words. "Just go back to your normal life, we're not even friends."

He looked even sadder after I said that last sentence, but I wasn't going to take it back, I didn't need him prying into my business. For starters, it was silly. Why didn't he find it silly? You could tell anyone 'hey I'm gonna break into Area 51, see if there's aliens there' and they'd look at you as if you'd lost your freaking mind.

I did help him, but I didn't need any of his flattery.

I turned around again, leaving him standing there, and went to my friends.

"Hey." I greeted them, a bit awkwardly after what happened at the party.

They greeted me too, just as uncomfortable as me.

"What were you guys talking about?" Zack said, probably to break the ice and make things less uncomfortable.

But, thinking back about it just made things more uncomfortable for me. I didn't want to think about how Jack knew about my stupid Area 51 plan, or that he –despite what other people would think about it– didn't find it weird nor stupid but cool. And I definitely didn't want to think about how everytime he stared at me straight in the eye it felt... weird. But a good weird.

"Nothing," I answered. "he was just thanking me for what happened on Friday."

We walked into the building, heading to our first class, in which we were all together.

"About Friday..." Zack started, looking to the side. "Look, I know I was with them all the time, but I didn't realize they'd put something on his drink."

I knew he was being sincere and I also knew that it was a party, shit happens in parties and no one is truly aware of what happens. I knew he didn't mean bad even if he sometimes really did succumb to the group pressure and let what his teammates did pass. He was a good person, but he was also just as much of a teenage mess as any of us and teenage issues weren't that easy to manage.

I shock my head.

"It's okay, I shouldn't have made such a drama. You guys are right, I can be such a drama queen sometimes. I know you didn't mean bad. I mean, Rian was right, you did tell Matt and the others off at the end."

Rian smiled and messed my hair.

"But we still love drama queen Alex, fighting for peace and love." He said.

I laughed, playfully punching him in the arm.

Just then, the bell rang, signalizing that we should be getting to class.

I was glad we were in good terms again, I didn't know what I'd do without these two idiots.

~*~

I stretched my arms above my head, after the teacher dismissed the class and everyone began picking up their stuff and leaving for the day, glad that last lesson was over and that I could finally go home do nothing productive. Except, maybe, get into some more Area 51 planning.

I, too, put all my school material in my bag and left the classroom. Last period was science, which meant that some classes were done in the lab, like that one, and the lab was pretty isolated from where the rest of the classes took place and, also, far from the entrance door.

I had stayed back a bit, thanks to the teacher, who had taken away my phone in the middle of that lesson because I'd been using it to go on Twitter and Instagram, seeing that that lesson was being so freaking boring, so I had to take it back and –of course– I couldn't miss the scolding. Normally, when we went to the lab it was to do cool experiments, but that day Mrs. Smith had spent half the class talking about what the experiment was about and it got to a point where all that explanation was dead-ass boring.

I sighed, finally leaving that classroom, and heading home. I was walking through the remmoted hallways, when I heard it. The shouting, the insults, the groans of pain. I instantly recognized Matt and his friend's voices. I knew I should just walk away, pretend I didn't hear anything, because, as much as I told my friends off for not intervening, sometimes it was best to not meddle in these guy's business. You could easily become the new target. But I didn't. Something within me was telling me not to run away, to face that situation and stop turning a blind eye; that'd just be like becoming the type of people I didn't want to be friends with and, definitely, not the person I wanted to be myself. So, before I could even process what I was doing, or think twice, I turned around the corner, to where all the noise was coming from.

And there he was. In trouble, as always. It felt as if we always met in the worse situations.

He was lying on the floor, being kicked and punched around as if he was the football team's punching bag –which, by the looks of it, he probably was. He looked like shit, bleeding and all bruised up. He was covering his face with his arms, in what seemed like an attempt to protect himself.

"Stupid faggot!"

"Do us a favor and just kill yourself already!"

"You're so pathetic!"

As it always happened when it came to Jack; I felt like utter shit for him. I felt my heart shatter at that sight of him so damaged and, suddenly, I felt even worse for treating him like shit that morning. He probably trusted me, thought that I would be different than all of those assholes, and I fucking let him down.

But I wouldn't let him down more.

"Hey!" I shouted, to get their attention.

They all stopped and turned to look at me, with the same astonished looks they gave me in the party, not being able to grasp the fact that I had yet once more stopped them in their bullying activities. As for Jack, our eyes met and he held my gaze for a while, with a look I couldn't quite pin, it felt as something between fear and surprise.

I bit the inside of my mouth, unsure of what to do or say now. I was so nervous and I was just hoping they didn't notice. What I did now, would probably mark the difference between leaving with Jack and facing no problems or just join him in the beating up mess in the ground.

"You again, Gaskarth? You know I like you, buddy, but I'm getting tired of you butting in my business." Matt said, trying to sound nice, but I wasn't that dense, I could perfectly sense the poison in his words.

"Just leave him alone, Matt, why would you bother so much for a stupid outcast like him? Not having friends sounds pathetic enough."

I bit the inside of my mouth again, avoiding looking at Jack, feeling bad for calling him all that, but not having another option if I wanted to sound convincing.

He laughed, getting up from the floor, where he was bent down, previously punching the blue-haired, and walked up to me.

"What's it to you?" He spat. "Is he your boyfriend or something for you to be saving his ass all the fucking time?"

I swallowed, more nervous now that I had him this close, towering over me in an intimidating way, taking full advantage of his well-built body that made him deserving of the football team's capitan position, almost threatening me. But I didn't let that show, instead, I stared back at him.

"Zack and Rian told me if you get in more trouble you're not gonna make it to the next game," I commented, faking concern. "and, dude, what's a game without you? I also like you, that's why I'm telling you it'd be a shame if you didn't get to play for some loser like him."

It was so stupid, after meddling in their bullying business twice, to pretend I cared about my friendship with him, but right now I was just hopping to sound convincing enough and having blind faith in my acting skills.

He smiled, pat my back twice, and turned back to Jack and to his friends, who'd just been looking at the situation from afar, without intervening. Jack looked as nervous as me and hoping he'd just drop the bullying for now as much as me –well, probably even more, since he was the one receiving the blows.

"You know what? You're right. This guy's not worth shit, even less ruining my awesome football career." He agreed, as modest as always, doing a gesture to his friends to leave Jack alone. "Besides, he already got his beating up dose today."

I knew he didn't believe I was doing that because 'I liked him' just as I didn't believe he liked me either. By now, I was sure I got on his nerves enough for him to land me on his black list and he probably hadn't already thrown me to the ground to join Jack in the beating up session because I was friends with Zack and Rian and that had to have some perks. But I knew I wouldn't be getting away with this, this would have its consequences, because that was what happened when you messed with the one who seemed to rule the school. He was a narcissistic prick who couldn't even bare the thought of someone going against him.

Whatever the reason was, he let it pass, and, for now, that was enough for me; at least I didn't get my ass beaten up too.

They all left –not before Sean gave a last kick to the ribs to Jack– and we were left alone in that deserted hallway.

I went to the blue-haired and kneeled down next to him, taking his face in my hands and examining the wounds. A bruise was starting to form in one of his cheeks and his nose and lips were bleeding –thankfully, though, it didn't look as if they broke his nose.

"Shit, they fucked you up well." I commented, in a kind of playful tone in a stupid attempt to make the situation less serious.

"I thought we weren't friends." He spat, bitterly, slowly moving my hands off his face and giving me a cold look.

Yet, it didn't really work on me, because I could perfectly read past that apparently cold gaze. His eyes seemed hopeful and sad at the same time, as if he was still thinking back to our conversation this morning, repeating to himself that we weren't friends, and, at the same time, it looked as if he was hoping for me to deny it, to say we were indeed friends.

I smiled. "We are."

He looked at me as if he was expecting more, so I continued.

"Look, this morning I was just... I don't know, embarrassed. I'm sure you can tell by now just how much of an awkward mess I am." I laughed, again, to make matters less serious. "But I've got your back, and I would still jump into a freezing cold-water pool for you."

He smiled, and I felt so relieved he did so.

"And, you know what, if it's you, I think you can join me on my alien-adventure."

He smiled again. "It would be a pleasure."


	5. Chapter 5

After what happened on Monday, Jack and I started hanging out more. He even joined Rian, Zack and I on lunch, despite everyone's looks and comments about the matter, unable to believe we were hanging out with the former outcast of school. However, I had grown to like Jack, and I knew he wasn't the disgusting loser everyone said he was, he was funny and had an awesome music taste. My friends also liked him and, although they were kind of unsure of accepting him in our group of friends at first –mainly in fears of what would Matt and company think about the matter and, ultimately, afraid of getting kicked out of the team– they were quick to accept him as another one of the group. We all got along so well and, by the end of the week, it almost felt as if the four of us had been best friends since kindergarten.

"I'm just saying, New Found Glory's cool, but have you heard Blink-182?" I heard Jack tell my two friends as I approached the table they were sitting at in the cafeteria.

I had got out of class later than the others because of a girl in my class who had asked a question in the last minutes of class, making the class get prolonged because of that. So, when I finally got out of class, I already had a text of my friends saying they were saving me a seat in the cafeteria because they were too hungry to wait for me.

"At least please tell me we can all agree that Green Day stays one of the best bands ever?" Rian asked and I saw them all nod in agreement.

I smiled, also agreeing, and sat with them to eat lunch.

"Okay, but Blink-182 can't top Foo Fighters." I said, teasingly, knowing full well how obsessed was Jack over Blink-182; he even said once he wanted to get a tattoo of the band when he turned eighteen.

He stuck out his tongue for me in response and, after that, we slowly moved on to other random topics, like how boring was one of Rian's classes or how Jack still had to do a whole essay for English class, which he wanted to keep on procrastinating doing but, at this point, he desperately needed to get on writing.

"By the way, I heard you and Lisa kissed?" Zack said, casually and out of nowhere, making my cheeks burn.

"Yeah, dude, and you didn't tell us." Rian added, pretending to be mad about it.

I wondered how they found out, given that Lisa and I were alone when it happened, but I figured that someone could've randomly seen us or maybe Lisa told her friends and they just ended up spreading that information.

"Yeah well, we did kiss at the party but I don't know..." I let out, without knowing what to say.

We kissed, but it wasn't as if we were dating or things changed that much. We just texted more often, she told me about her day and I told her about mine, but there was no flirting or anything. At this point, I was even wondering if she remembered the kiss or if she was too drunk to remember it.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Jack tense up. I looked at him, seeing how, suddenly, he seemed to look so down, focusing only on his food as if he didn't want to join that conversation. I brushed it off, thinking that maybe he didn't want to say anything because he didn't know what kind of relationship Lisa and I had or maybe because we weren't that close yet.

"What do you mean you don't know? You guys kissed, right?" Zack insisted.

I scratched the back of my head, unsure, overthinking the situation once more.

"We kissed, but nothing else happened. She just texts me everyday, that's the only thing that changed after the kiss, but she texts as if we were friends. Like, there's no flirting or anything."

After I said that, Zack pulled his head back in an exasperating way and Rian face-palmed, as if it was clear as water what was happening.

"What?"

"Oh, my god. How dense can you be?" Zack said. "It's obvious she's waiting for you to do something."

"She was the one who kissed you, right?" Rian asked me, even if it looked as if they both knew all the details, and I nodded. "She was the one who made the first move, you have to do something to show her that you're also interested in her."

"I–."

"I think I'll get going guys, I forgot to do some homework, I'm gonna try to do it before class starts." Jack suddenly said, standing up.

He still had that upset look on his face and I couldn't help but think that he was just pulling out an excuse to leave because we were making him feel uncomfortable with the whole 'Lisa topic'.

Before he left, I quickly grabbed his wrist.

"Wanna come to mine after class? These two have football practice and we could keep working on the project." I asked, winking at him when referring to said 'project', being the key word for planning how to break in Area 51.

He nodded, although he still had that same upset look on his face. "Okay."

With that, he was off.

"That was weird." I said, still looking in the direction where the blue-haired left.

I heard a chuckle coming from my friends and turned to them.

"You really are dense." Rian told me, as the only response to my questioning look. I just rolled my eyes and finished my food.

~*~

When classes were over, I rushed to the main entrance, where Jack was already waiting for me. We walked to my house, a twenty-five-minute walk, almost in silence, just talking about classes and non-important topics. I couldn't help but think back about what happened in lunch and about Jack's weird attitude, I wanted to ask, but maybe it would just make things more uncomfortable.

At the end, we reached my house and I just decided to forget about that matter and just go to my room with him and focus on the Area 51 planning.

We walked up the stairs that led to my room and I opened the door to it, letting him in.

"Sorry it's a bit messy." I apologized.

It's not like I was a really messy person, but, as any teenager's room, it was kind of unorganized. My desk was full of papers, books and random objects that I just left there, the bed hadn't been made because of leaving in such a rush in the morning, and some clothes and random things were scattered around.

"It's okay, mine looks even worse." He said, with a small laugh.

I saw him curiously eyeing my bedroom, looking at the posters I had on the walls, the random objects here and there, until his eyes landed on my guitars. Next to my closet, I had an acoustic guitar and an electric one. I saw his eyes light up and how he went to them, carefully picking up the electric one.

"You also play?" He asked me and I nodded.

I picked up the acoustic one myself and started strumming random chords, without giving it much thought. To be honest, it had been a while since I played the guitar with all the exams, school work and hanging out with friends. I used to play it all the time back in freshman year, I had my family sick of hearing me play the same songs over and over again.

"I don't play that much lately, but I used to."

I stated playing American Idiot, by Green Day, making my own acoustic version. It had been so long since I last played the guitar, that I found myself completely forgetting about my surroundings and just focusing on the instrument, on changing my fingers from chord to chord, on my fingers strumming the strings and letting myself fall into the song. In fact, I was so focused on the song, that I even began softly singing the lyrics.

After a while, though, I realized Jack was there, staring at me intensely, and I immediately stopped, too embarrassed for having got so carried away and too self-conscious to keep playing now. I wanted to disappear because of how embarrassed I was for starting singing out of nowhere and him hearing me.

"I–."

"Wow! That was awesome!" He exclaimed, with a look of admiration shining in his eyes.

I blushed, getting even more shy with the compliment, and put down my guitar, leaving it where it previously was. Jack had also left my electric guitar back in its place at some point, I guess I was just too distracted playing to notice it when it happened.

"Thank you." I ended up saying, giving him a small smile.

For a few seconds there, we just stared at each other. And I there it was again, that feeling of being pulled towards him, of getting sucked by his deep eyes; of wanting to get more and more of him. My heart was beating so fast but I was determined to attribute that to the shyness and awkwardness of the moment, of someone I barely knew hearing me sing, of not knowing what to say or do now. I mean, what else could it be? I didn't have anything against the lgbt+, but I wasn't part of the community myself. I just wanted to be his friend, because he looked like a cool person, but I only managed to embarrass myself in front of him or mess things up every time we met.

I cleared my throat, awkwardly, breaking the silence and the weird atmosphere.

"We should... We should start with the planning." I said, in a low voice, in almost a whisper, as if it wasn't right to speak louder right now.

He nodded, quickly getting up and going to get his backpack, which he had dropped on the floor next to the door the moment he saw my guitars. He seemed just as awkward as me for a moment.

I went to my desk, collecting a few papers I had related to Area 51 and also pulling out some from my bag, just as Jack, and we ended up laying on the floor with a mess of papers surrounding us.

"Okay, so it's obvious we can't just walk in through the fence because there's A LOT of security," I stated, showing him a few articles that explained how there where cameras and soldiers –which many people knew– but also, and this was something not that much people knew, lots of sensors. "so, we'll have to go in just how the people working there do it."

Jack looked up from the article he was reading, looking at me. "And how's that?"

"By plane."

For a moment, the blue-haired just stared at me. He looked as if he couldn't believe I was even suggesting that, as if I had gone crazy, which really, if we were going to break in Area 51, sneaking into a plane would be the less illegal and weird thing we could come up with.

"Look, I know it sounds crazy, but we just need to get some fake ID or something and get in that plane as if we truly work in Area 51." I added, seeing that Jack looked about to drop the whole adventure.

At that, it looked as if something clicked inside of Jack's head. "My dad's a police officer, we could sneak in the police station and make us fake IDs."

I smiled. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to get him joining me in my adventure, maybe he really was as serious about it as I was and he could really come in handy in some parts of the plan –maybe we could even manage to find aliens if he came with me.

"Cool." I answered, smiling at him.

At that, I think I saw him blush, but I couldn't really tell because he quickly averted his gaze to look at some more papers.

"We have to find where the planes are, thought." I said, because I still hadn't found a single article that explained where the planes that went inside Area 51 took off.

I got up from the floor to get my laptop and see if I could find some information about it online, and I felt Jack's eyes follow me.

"Don't make too many searches about it or we'll end up with the government knocking at our doors." He joked, looking at me as I laid down on the floor again with my laptop.

I laughed. "Don't worry, even if I get busted I know you'll come to save my ass."

He smiled, looking straight at my eyes.

"Sure." He said, in a kind of teasing tone.

He was, again, giving me that intense look that made me feel all weird. Yet, I couldn't tear my eyes off him.

Just then, my bedroom door opened and my mom came in with a plate of cookies. And I couldn't decide if I was glad she had interrupted whatever was going on between Jack and I or embarrassed about having my mom bringing us cookies as if we were kids and finding us looking at each other like that.

"I brought you cookies in case you guys are hungry." My mom said, with a smile, leaving the plate in my desk.

I uncomfortably smiled at her, besides from all of the previously stated, we were also laying on the floor with a hell lot of Area 51, aliens and space-related articles, which had to make us look a bit weird. "Thank you, mom."

I saw how she intended to look at some of the papers on the ground and I made a gesture to her, silently telling her to leave, not wanting to further embarrass myself in front of Jack because I had already covered that matter for the day.

At the end, she did leave and I let out a relieved sigh as soon as she closed the door behind her, making my friend laugh.

"Your mom seems nice." Jack commented, getting up to get the plate of cookies and leaving it on the floor next to us and all the papers so that they were easier to take and eat them.

"Yeah, I guess." I answered, without really knowing what to say.

"My parents are pretty distant, you'd never see my mom bring us cookies." He laughed it off, even thought he seemed hurt by that. "I mean, I don't think they do it on purpose, it's just that my dad has a lot of work because of working as a police officer and my mom works lots of hours in a multinational."

I made a face, feeling sorry for him. He must've felt so alone. He was bullied at school just because he was different and then he came back to an empty house.

"I'll make you cookies one day." I said, in a pathetic attempt to cheer him up.

He looked at me, in a mixture of surprise and amusement.

"You don't need to," He said. "you, yourself, are sweet enough."

At that, I felt my cheeks burn like crazy, not expecting that kind of response in the slightest. I heard him laugh and I felt myself not knowing how to take in that, because he had sounded so serious, as if he was truly meaning that flirty comment, but he was now laughing as if it was nothing.

But then, I looked at him again, and we locked eyes, and all doubts seemed to go away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alex drop lisa and go with jack he luvs u   
> btwww whAT is all time low doing dropping all those songssss and the whole cake thing like omg if they sent me a cake for my birthday that'd be my last birthday cause i'd die right then and there   
> anywayyy leave a comment if you want? and kudos if you want? and have a great day/night/afternoon c:
> 
> -cris xx


	6. Chapter 6

The Area 51 planning was going well, Jack and I had been meeting almost everyday and the plan was starting to come up together; even if we still had some obstacles that we needed to solve for the plan to really work. We also still needed to get the necessary supplies for the adventure, such as the fake IDs. Which led us to our main obstacle. We needed fake IDs to be able to sneak into the Area 51 plane, something we could get thanks to Jack’s dad working in the police office, but we also needed to be on the register of said plane. Because they sure as hell had a register where they kept track of everyone that was supposed to get on that plane that day and, if we weren’t on that list, no fake ID would get us in.

I sighed, unable to come up with a solution, no matter how much I kept thinking about it, and Jack looked at me with a questioning look, silently asking me what was wrong.

We were in the cafeteria, waiting for both Zack and Rian who once more, had been captured by the football team; although it wasn’t that weird considering they had a match that afternoon. They said they’d join us in the cafeteria in a few, that it wouldn’t take them long, but at this point, lunch was almost over. Jack and I had both finished eating our lunch and Jack was now finishing off some homework while I tried to come up with a solution to the part of the plan that wasn’t working.

“I really don’t know how we can do it.” I ended up saying.

Jack quickly caught up to what I was talking about, since it was something we’d been discussing for days, and gave me the same frustrated look I probably had.

“Do what?” I heard Rian say, and I turned to see him and Zack.

They sat down in our table, Zack sitting next to me and Rian siting in front of him, next to Jack. They began eating their lunches, even though I doubted they had enough time to eat it all by now. I shifted uncomfortably, since I didn’t want to tell them what it all was about, and Jack and I exchanged looks.

“Nothing, just some assignment.” The blue-haired blushed it off, going back to his homework.

Rian just hummed in response, maybe thinking it would be something more interesting than school work –which it was, at least to Jack and I, he just didn’t know it.

“By the way, you guys should come to the match.” Zack said.  
  
“Yep, we’re gonna kick their asses.” Rian added, with a mouthful of hamburger.  
  
I looked at Jack, he didn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d go to high school football games, even more considering how said players constantly bullied him. I, on the other hand, usually went to the matches to see my friends play, unless I had other plans or too much school work, it was always fun to watch.  
  
I thought Jack would decline, that he would wish Zack and Rian luck and tell us how he had other stuff to do, but he ended up agreeing to come and Jack and I decided to go together.

 

~*~

  
I met Jack at the main entrance so we could both go together to the match and sit together. I noticed how he seemed to be a little on edge, as if he didn’t really want to go but, for some reason, he agreed to come. I thought that, maybe, he was just trying to fit in with our group and felt kind of bad that we somehow managed to make him feel pressured to come although he didn’t need to. It sure mustn’t been pleasing to willingly go see your bullies play football.  
  
I smiled at him, trying to reassure him and silently telling him that everything was going to be alright. “Let’s go.”  
  
He nodded and we both walked out, to the football field, to find some place to sit on the bleachers.  
  
“What positions do Zack and Rian have?” Jack asked me, once we were in our seats.

“Zack’s an offensive tackle and Rian’s a wide receiver.” I explained.

“And I’m guessing Matt’s the quarterback.”

I nodded, resisting the urge to roll my eyes at the thought of that douchebag.

“I like better the Ravens’ quarterback.” We said at the same time, without even planning it.

We both turned to look at each other, surprised, I guess both at the fact that we said that at the same exact time and at how we both liked Baltimore Ravens, and we laughed.

“You like the Ravens?”

He nodded, smiling. “Yep.”

You could see that spark in his eyes, like when he talked about Blink-182 or Green Day, or any of those bands he adored. His eyes would light up and make him look so… beautiful. Like, not saying it in a gay manner, I just liked to see people’s happy expressions when they talked about something they were passionate about.  
  
Just then, the Dulaney High team walked in the field, as well as the other team –some team from a school near ours– and the match begun.  
  
The match was going well, the team they were playing against was pretty weak compared to our school’s, so it was an easy win. Both Rian and Zack were doing awesome, as per usual, and had managed to make some good plays. At times like this, I understood why they stayed in the football team despite Matt’s stupidity. I didn’t agree on them playing dumb and pretending they didn’t see anything when it happened, but they sure as hell belonged to the team. It was, again, something they were passionate about, and no idiot should take that away from them. Plus, I knew they weren’t as bad as some of the members of the Dulaney football team.

And it was then, while I was watching Rian receive a pass, that I came up with it. The solution to our breaking-in-Area-51 problem.

He was the solution.

Rian was smart, and I knew that he was good with all that computer stuff, so maybe we could get him into hacking into the Area 51 system and get us two in the list. Of course, there was the problem of how to get him into doing it, because there was no way I was telling him all of our plan, he would think both Jack and I had completely lost it. That, and maybe he would even snitch on us or stop us from doing it. It would probably be best asking him if he were to 'hypothetically' break into the system, how would he do it. Without sounding too suspicious.

I stood up, taking Jack’s hand to lead him out of there too, to a quieter place we could talk. I ignored him asking me what was going on and where we were going and I dragged him out of the bleachers, away from the football field and to an empty classroom.  
  
When I finally let go of his hand, not having even realized I had been holding his hand all of this time, he looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to tell him why I had led him out of the bleachers mid-match so suddenly.  
  
“I know how we can solve the problem about breaking into Area 51.” I said, smiling proudly.  
  
He smiled back at me. “Yaaas!”

I laughed at his answer, since he had said it in a really stupid and gay tone.

“So, what is it?”

“We’ll use Rian, he knows about computer stuff, we just gotta convince him into doing it somehow.” I explained.

He nodded, looking straight at my eyes. And I could sense it again. That tension, that feeling of something pulling me towards him, like a moth flying towards the light.

He walked closer to me, as if, suddenly, the Area 51 plan didn’t matter at all; as if anything mattered at all but us. I ended up leaning on a desk, watching him get closer. I was half conscious of what was happening, I was mostly just going with the flow, it felt as if my body desperately wanted that, to have Jack closer. He rested a hand on my cheek and looked at me straight in the eyes, making my insides shake, and then he started leaning in closer and closer. Until our lips met. And, despite everything that I made myself believe, I didn’t push him away, instead, I put my arms around him and pulled him even closer, pressing his body against mine, impossibly closer. Our lips moved in synch and, after a while, I felt Jacks tongue on my lips, asking for entrance, so I opened up my mouth. The kiss instantly became more heated, in a tongue mess that made me moan and that made Jack moan in return.  
  
We pulled apart after a while and we stared at each other. It felt as if that tension was slowly melting away now that we had finally kissed and, at the same time, it felt as if we had just opened the pandora box that made us want to jump into each other even more desperately, as if now that we’ve tasted each other we had become addicted to each other’s taste.

But then it hit me. It made my stomach and all my mood drop, it made me feel so naïve and dumb.

“You only wanted this, right? You didn’t give two fucks about my plan or my adventure or aliens or whatever. You just wanted to get in my pants.”

I pushed him, suddenly feeling so stupid. I told him about all my plan and he probably just thought everything was so dumb and that I was fucking delusional but he let it pass because he liked me or whatever. He most likely was fine with anything as long as he could end up messing around with me.

He looked at me dumbfounded and tried to get closer to me again. “Alex, that’s not–.”

“Save it.” I cut him off, pushing him again to walk pass him, out of the classroom.

I didn’t want to see him again. Why did I even let him kiss me? Why did I kiss him back? I liked Lisa. I was not gay, nor bisexual. What the fuck did just happen? And why did I not feel grossed out about it? Why did I want to run back to that classroom and kiss him again and again, till my lips were all red and swollen? I was just so confused and angry at the same time, because I hated that he did that, because everything was going so well, because I had someone to join me on my adventure, but, at the same time, I didn’t completely hate that he did that. I wanted him to do it again. And that confused me to no end. Because I was convinced I liked Lisa since eighth grade, and I never paid attention to any guy before, but now I was wondering why it didn’t feel half as good when I kissed Lisa than it felt with Jack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if i messed up anything there about american football, i trusted wikipedia on this because my knowledge on football (or any other sport, for that matter) are pretty much 0. i'm not an sporty person, i'm lazy and antisocial.  
> but theykissedtheykissedtheykissed
> 
> -cris xx


	7. Chapter 7

I was at home, just laying on my bed, staring at the ceiling and probably thinking too much. Jack had texted me after what happened yesterday, telling me he was sorry about kissing me and that he really didn’t mean bad, that he was genuinely interested in the whole Area 51 adventure, but I just ignored all of his messages. By now, all of my anger had faded away and it just left me feeling confused and insecure. What if he was really just using me? What if he truly didn’t give a shit about Area 51 and was just looking for an excuse to get closer to me? Hell, what if he was a gay fuckboy who just wanted to fuck and then would dump me? It felt as if, all of a sudden, I didn’t know him at all, as if all those weeks of hanging out had fallen like a house of cards to the ground –and I didn’t even know if I wanted to build that house of cards again. I wanted to run back to him as much as I wanted to run from him. I was so confused.  
  
I sighed, standing up and walking to my desk, deciding that, instead of spending all day in bed overthinking. I might as well do something to take my mind off the whole topic. And so, I took my laptop and also my lyrics notebook and went back to bed.

_Two kids, no consequences_   
_Pull the trigger without thinking_   
_There's only one way down this road_   
_It was like a time bomb set into motion_   
_We knew that we were destined to explode_

I groaned in frustration, dropping the notebook to the floor, not wanting to have any more to do with that stupid song, and, instead, switched to my laptop. If I was going to have to do that by myself, I might as well keep going with the plan and getting more information. I ended up binge watching a bunch of YouTube videos and looking up a few things on Google. After a few hours, I stopped to go downstairs to grab a snack. My parents said they’d bring dinner when they came home, yet it was seven and they probably wouldn’t be home until one or two more hours.  
  
Just as I was getting upstairs again, with my delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich in hands, I heard someone knock on my front door. I frowned, since I wasn’t expecting anyone to come around. All my friends were busy today, my sisters were at college and my parents had gone out on a day trip or something. I walked to the door, still unsure of who could it be, and slowly opened it.  
  
And I wish I didn’t. Or that I had at least peeped through the peephole to prepare myself for that. Because, hell, I wasn’t expecting to open my front door to come face-to-face with the so-called men in black.  
  
I stood there, frozen, without knowing what to say or do. I had watched videos about them on YouTube before, thanks to my alien obsession, but I honestly had my doubts of them truly existing and I definitely didn’t imagine they’d come to visit me someday. Why would they? I was just an ordinary high school student.  
  
Then it hit me –I had been looking up stuff like crazy on Google and YouTube for days. That, definitely surpassed simply curious searches of the topic.  
  
I stared at the two men in front of me, kind of scared, they were just as some described them. Dressed in black suits with an also black tie over a neatly white tie, their skin was pale, abnormally pale, I had never seen someone with such a pale skin in my whole life and it made me think back to all of those theories that claimed those men were aliens themselves. They were wearing sunglasses, even though it wasn’t that sunny that day and it was already pretty dark outside. I could even see the black old Cadillac they came in parked in my driveway, making it all even more real.  
  
“Good evening,” One of them suddenly spoke, startling me. “are you Alexander Gaskarth?”  
  
I just nodded, too afraid to lie and pretend it was a mistake for them to be there and without a better option. He gave me a small smile, as if he was trying to be nice, but, instead, it made a chill run down my back.  
  
“Would you mind us coming in for a bit?”  
  
Again, I just shook my head, opening up the door a bit more and letting them in. I just wanted them to tell me whatever they wanted to tell me, to threaten me, delete all my research, whatever they wanted, and then have them leaving.  
  
They walked in and calmly made their way to the living room, with such naturalness it almost felt as if that was their house and not mine because, right now, I was just so bewildered with everything I even felt as if I was walking in a stranger’s house. They ended up sitting on the sofa and I, trying to act as politely as my parents had raised me to be, offered them something to drink or eat –also thinking that maybe, if I was nice to them, whatever they were going to do to me wouldn’t be so bad– to which they declined.  
  
“So, Alexander,” The same man said, it seemed as if he was the one to do the talking out of the two of them. Maybe the other was there in case things got troubling. “are you interested in outer space?”  
  
I gulped.  
  
“Y-Yeah… I mean… I find interesting the thought of something being out there. We can’t be the only species in the whole universe, right?” I stuttered, nervously.  
  
The man nodded, as if he was telling me he agreed with me, or maybe it was just to show me he was listening to me. He then took out his sunglasses, revealing grey eyes, such a clear tone that they almost looked white, translucent.  
  
“The problem is, Mr. Gaskarth, that there are some secrets that need to be kept hidden.” He replied.  
  
He wasn’t talking in a rude way, he was actually being very polite, but there was something in his tone that made it all sound like he was threatening me. It gave the impression that, if you did not listen, you’d get on serious trouble. Who knows, maybe they could even vanish me from this world without a trace if I became dangerous to the government.  
I nodded, understandingly, although I didn’t actually understand nor agree with the idea of the government hiding from the population the existence of aliens. Why would they? It is true they were the ones in power, the ones we chose to represent us and to make the important decisions for us –yet they didn’t own the whole universe. We had the same right as them to know of the existence of extraterrestrial life out there.  
  
“I’m glad you understand.” He said, giving me another of those weird smiles of his, standing up. “If so, I would like to confiscate all of the information you have gathered about extraterrestrial life and of the Area 51 facilities.”  
  
I opened my eyes wide. They couldn’t do that. I didn’t want to give them that and have them delete everything, there was information that took a lot to be found.  
So, I did it, I went against them. “No.”  
  
He looked sort of taken aback, for someone who had seemed pretty stoic through all of the time he had been there, as if he couldn’t comprehend me denying them what they wanted after being so polite, understanding and cooperative with them so far. Maybe there were also few people who dared do so after coming face-to-face with them.  
  
“I’m afraid I might have not heard you clearly.” He answered, almost as if he was giving me the chance to rectify, but I wasn’t going to do that. “Could you hand us all the information you have about extraterrestrial life and the Area 51 facilities?”  
  
Again, I shocked my head and said no.  
  
It was then, when things really got fucked up. Maybe anyone else would’ve given them what they wanted, renounce to it and have them leaving and then gather all the information again, this time, being more careful; but not me. I was stubborn. I didn’t want to give in and have them win and I didn’t want to have to start all over again.  
The man that had been quiet this whole time stood up, towering over me and, although he was wearing sunglasses, I could sense his menacing piercing stare on me. He took me by the collar of my old Green Day shirt, one that was so old and worn-out that I only used it as pajamas, and pushed me against the wall, lifting me up as if I weighted nothing. At that point, I was starting to get really scared. What were they going to do to me? I didn’t even know who these guys really were. If they had such pale features and weird-ass eyes who knows if they also had superpowers.  
  
“Give us the information you’ve got.” He threatened, he sounded less nice than his companion, but he still had that nice tone that hid a really unwelcoming attitude.  
  
“Or what?” I spat.  
"You damn kid-"  
  
He couldn’t say anything more, because, at that moment, a fist collided on his face and had him dropping me to the floor, graving his face in both pain and surprise. I looked at the person whose fist belonged to and found Jack standing there. He gave me a quick look, along with a small smile, as if to make sure I was okay and also to reassure me everything was going to be fine.  
  
The other man, the nicer one, went quickly to Jack, to get him by the back while he was distracted, yet the blue-haired turned around and punched him too.  
  
On the other hand, the not-so-nice man turned back to Jack to help his companion, yet I tripped him, making him helplessly fall to the ground next to me. I went to stand up, to help Jack with the other dude, but the one on the floor grabbed my ankle, throwing me to the ground again.  
  
But I wasn’t going to get my ass kicked, after all, I had managed to get a green belt on karate, so I could, for once, put that to use.  
  
After leaving that one knocked out, I went over to Jack to help him with the other man who, at this point, had the blue haired on the floor under him, punching him. I grabbed him by the back of his white shirt and pulled him back, away from Jack and I also took care of that one as I did with his friend now on the floor.  
  
“Wow, I didn’t know you could kick ass like that.” Jack said, standing up from the floor and wiping the blood on his broken lip off with the sleeve of his sweater.  
  
“Yeah, I did karate for a while, I managed to get the green belt before leaving.” I explained. “What are we gonna do with these dudes?”  
  
We both stared at the almost passed out men on the ground.  
  
“I say we threaten them to get their asses inside their old car and leave.” I stared at Jack, not sure if it was a good idea to have them drive in their state. Then again, I couldn’t leave them half dead on my living room’s floor, my parents would freak out if they saw them there when they came home. “What? Do you have a better idea?”  
  
I sighed. “No.”  
  
So, we did that, we made them get in their car and leave.  
  
“What are you even doing here?” I asked him, as I was treating his wounds; a broken lip and a few bruises that were starting to form, one of them on his left cheek, making it get swollen.  
  
I gave him a pack of frozen beans to put on his swollen cheek and went over to get what I needed to cure his split lip, leaving him waiting siting on a chair in the kitchen.  
  
“You weren’t answering my texts.” He said, as if it was obvious.  
  
I nodded and then the silence fell over us again, I just focused on searching through the first-aid kit for what I needed.  
  
“Look, I’m sorry about what happened yesterday.” He continued, after I didn’t answer. “I… I didn’t mean to kiss you. Well, I did but– Ah!” He complained, after I put the disinfectant liquid on his lip with a cotton.  
  
I sighed again. I kind of felt bad for him. Maybe he truly didn’t mean bad, maybe he just liked me, for who I was, but at the same time was serious about the Area 51 plan. I mean, would a fuckboy punch the government’s black men like that for a quick fuck?  
  
“It’s okay. I’m also sorry for running off like that, I was just…” I left the sentence hanging in the air, not knowing how to finish it, not knowing how I was feeling about all of this, because, right now, staring at his lips while I cured him and as cliché as it sounded, all I could think was to kiss him. And that was weird for me, it was something new I had never felt before. It scared me and it confused me.  
  
“I’m serious about the plan, Alex, my feelings for you do not change that. It would be so cool to break in Area 51 and find some cool aliens.” He said, after a few seconds of silence fell over us again.  
  
He was staring directly at my eyes, as if he really meant every word he was saying, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of those deep brown eyes, as if they sucked me in. His eyes moved to my lips and then back to my eyes and then he started getting closer, carefully, as if to give me time to pull back in case I didn’t want that. But I didn’t pull back, because even if I didn’t understand what I was feeling I sure knew I wanted to kiss him, because it feel good, it felt right somehow.  
  
And so, we kissed, slower this time, careful not to re-open Jack’s wound, and as if we had all the time in the world. He put his hand on the back of my head, pulling me closer, and my hands found their usual spot around Jack’s neck. I felt the famous butterflies in my stomach and the feeling of not wanting that to ever end. I didn’t know if I liked Jack, but I sure knew I liked kissing him.  
  
We pulled apart and Jack smiled at me, messing with my hair.  
  
“I should leave.” He said, standing up from the kitchen chair he was siting on, giving me a small smile.  
  
I nodded and stood up too, to walk him to the front door.  
  
“We have to be more careful from now on, maybe leave the planning for a while, pretend to be normal teenagers and all that stuff.” He said when we reached the door.  
I just nodded, as much as it bothered me to put off the Area 51 planning I knew better than to continue and get another visit of the men in black.

He smiled again. “I’ll see you ‘round, ‘Lex.”  
  
He kissed my cheek and left, leaving me watching him drive off my street, with burning cheeks and a bunch of butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> while i was writing this chapter i remembered alex saying in an interview that he was a green belt so, no, i didn't make that karate thing up (i think it was '10 things you didn't know about all time low') 
> 
> -cris xx


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so my inspo's been complete hell, i also went on holiday with my family so i couldn't write :( but apparently all it took for my inspo to be back was forgetting about writing for about two weeks and then putting on some empty arena 1d while writing lol  
> i hope this chapter was worth the wait ^^

After what happened on Saturday at my house, Jack and I decided to postpone everything and live like ordinary teenagers with ordinary teenager-y problems. Which, in this case, was the winter dance. Girls talking with their friends trying to decide what to wear, people gathering the strength to ask their crush out to be their date for the dance and the dance committee running around making the last touches for the party. I was never one to care too much for these kind of parties, all my school spirit went to going to football matches to see my friends and a few other random events. I preferred real parties where, for starters, alcohol was allowed. However, this time I was definitely attending. If I wanted my adventure to carry on without many more complications I had to. Plus, it couldn't be so bad.

And I already knew who to go with.

I waited outside of the class I knew Lisa had her last period on, I think it was French, until she came out.

"Oh, hello, Alex." She greeted me, with that gorgeous smile she always had on her face.

She was carrying a bunch books and notebooks, maybe having been to lazy or in too much of a hurry to pass by her locker between classes to drop some there. I silently took some, deciding to help her carry them all to her locker. She smiled again, thanking me.

"Hi, I—, I actually wanted to talk with you." I said, looking at the cover of the science textbook I was carrying, too nervous to actually look at her.

I knew we had kissed, and she said she liked me, so she would most definitely say yes to go to the dance with me, yet I was still nervous. Like, what if she changed her mind? What if she said she liked me but she didn't really like like me? After all, I was kind of a mess. Why would she like me, of all people? I wasn't that special. My friends were the cool ones, the football player stars, the ones who got invited to all of the parties and had all girls wanting to date them. I was just the friend, the awkward guy who liked to play guitar and sing, the one with a big-ass obsession about space and aliens, too crazy and too dumb for her. 

After walking through a few more hallways, we reached Lisa's locker and I helped her put in all the books. She closed her locker and leaned her back against it.

"So, what did you wanna talk about?"

I looked away for a brief moment, trying to gather up the strength to answer. I looked away, to the hallway, seeing the rest of students who were also leaving their things in their lockers, some of them also talking with their friends or even in what looked like my same situation, whereas others were just leaving the building, glad the day was over. If you thought about it, you could say I had it easy, Lisa had already told me she liked me so she would most likely say yes to going to the dance with me, but I still couldn't help but get nervous.

"Do you wanna go to the dance with me?" I ended up blurting out, looking back at her.

She smiled, that sweet smile of her, and nodded. "Sure."

 

~*~

 

"Okay let's have a break" Rian declared, seeing that the song wasn't coming out as expected.

We were all in Rian's garage, where we had decided to have a little jam session after discovering we could all play some instrument and, considering we pretty much had the same music taste, we could try and play some of our favorite songs together. Yet, it was easier said than done. Some songs were too hard to play on guitar, some had a drumming part too complicated for Rian and, more importantly, having a good coordination and playing the right note on the right time proved to be harder than we originally thought it'd be.

I dropped myself on the sofa, tired from moving around singing and playing guitar, pulling out my phone to see if I had any new messages –well, in fact, I wanted to see if Lisa had texted back. Rian and Zack quickly said they were going upstairs for some snacks and left and, soon after, I felt the sofa shift under Jack's weight, who sat next to me with his guitar on his lap. For a while, we just sat there in silence. Jack was tuning his guitar and I was on my phone, checking notifications.

"So," Jack said then, still focusing his eyes on his guitar. "you're going to the dance with Lisa?"

I didn't even have to look at him to know he was upset, maybe even pissed off. He said it so casually and we hadn't known each other for too long, but I knew him better than that. There was something off in his voice that told me it bothered him that I had done so.

"Yeah, I asked her today." I just answered, without sparing him a glance, instead, I kept scrolling through Instagram. I wasn't even paying attention to the posts I was seeing, I just didn't want to look at him. For some reason, I felt kind of guilty, as if I had done something terrible by asking Lisa, the girl I had had a crush on for the longest ever, to go to the dance with me.

"Oh, cool." He spat.

The answer was so aggressive and I, not having expected that kind of response at all, turned to look at him. He looked so mad and, at the same time, his eyes looked so sad, he looked so disappointed, almost as if he expected more of me but I had totaly let him down.

"So, I don't mean shit to you, right?" He continued, angrily, his eyes looked like a wild storm in the middle of the ocean, beautiful but fierce. "It doesn't mean anything at all that we kissed. Twice. Cool, Alex, cool."

I didn't understand why he was so angry. It was just a kiss. People kissed all of the time. People went to parties, kissed people meaningless and went on with their lives, it was nothing to make such a fuss over. I mean, sure, we weren't at a party when it happened, but it was still... meaningless. Wasn't it? It's not as if I had feelings for him. He may have told me he liked me, but I never confessed my undying love for him.

"Of course you mean shit to me, Jack! But it was just... a kiss. It's not as if we have to start dating now and get married and have four kids! We're just friends!"

He looked at me even angrier than before, he left the guitar on the couch and stood up.

"Just a kiss." He said, as if he couldn't believe it. "And we're «just friends». Right. 'Cause «just friends» go around kissing each other like that. I don't know about you, but I don't do that, I don't just make out my friends."

I looked at him surprised, not knowing how to answer to all of that, because, as much as I hated it, he was right; friends didn't go around making out with each other -I wouldn't make out with Rian nor Zack, for fuck's sake. But I didn't like him that way, I liked Lisa, yet, at the same time, kissing him felt so right. I was so confused, and I felt sorry for leading him on because of all of my doubts. 

"Jack, I'm—."

"Just forget it." He cut me off, abruptly.

He quickly gathered up his things and left, without saying anything else, not caring at all anymore about playing songs with us. And I wanted to tell him how childish it all was, that he didn't have to get so mad over some meaningless kiss, but, deep down, I knew better. He wasn't just mad, he was hurt. I hurt him. I knew how he felt about me, he told me, and I just went and kissed him, led him on, and then went back to Lisa as if Jack was nothing. And as much as I wanted to pretend I didn't care, that it was his fault for getting his hopes high over a few kisses, I felt terribly guilty. My stomach hurt with guilt.

~*~

A few days had gone by since the argument I had with Jack. We hadn't really been talking since then, which sucked because it just made me realize of how close we had become in a matter of a few weeks and how much I had grown to appreciate him as a friend. He stopped sitting next to me in the few classes we shared, making me miss his silly jokes, talking about bands and whatever that run through our minds and the stupid doodles he liked to draw in the empty spaces of his and my notebooks, where the messy class notes weren't filling the pages. He still sat with us during lunch, but I was pretty sure even Zack and Rian knew by now something was off between us, because Jack made it feel as if I wasn't siting on that table with them, as if I was nothing at all to him, just an another empty space. I knew I deserved it, I did the same to him, I acted as if his feelings didn't matter. And it hurt. It hurt more than I could even understand. It confused me more. If this was just a regular friendship, why did I feel so sad Jack wasn't talking to me anymore? Why did I miss him so much? 

At the end, the night of the dance came. Jack and I still weren't talking and all I had managed to do was to get us in another argument by asking him to come to the dance. I had put it all under the pretext of us having to cover up for our Area 51 adventure, to act like ordinary teenagers, but really, I wanted him to come. I wanted to see him there, all dressed up, having fun and complaining about the shitty pop music at the same time, drinking the alcohol-less punch and dancing. I wanted to go to the dance with him. But I was too scared and too stupid to admit it. 

So there I was, with Lisa, dressed up in a beautiful dress and with her hair in curls with a few strands of hair tied in pins, with heels so high she was almost my height, dancing next to me and looking straight at my eyes with want and love. It was all I ever wanted, most of the guys in my school would die to be in my position, yet I couldn't stop looking at Jack instead. He was dressed up in a hideous blue suit that matched his hair, yet he still managed to look cute, so stupidly cute. Maybe the alcohol-less punch had been sabotaged and it wasn't so alcohol-less anymore, maybe that was why I couldn't stop thinking about Jack and why my eyes kept going back to him, standing next to Zack, talking and laughing with him. Rian was probably with Cassadee, having way more fun with his date than I was with mine. For starters, they looked cute together, and I doubted Lisa and I looked that good together. She was so out of my league and we clearly didn't belong together. 

"Are you okay? You seem... distracted?" Lisa asked me, while we slow danced. The song had switched to some One Direction slow song, making it the perfect atmosphere for talking and for couples to kiss; but I wasn't feeling like neither of them. At least, not with Lisa. 

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." I quickly answered, looking back at her. "It has just been a long week and all that, y'know, but I was really looking forward to this night." 

I don't know why did I even bother to lie, because, even if I said so, my eyes went straight back to where Jack and Zack were standing, drinking punch and talking. And for a moment, Jack and I's eyes met, and we held each other's gaze for a while. He had the same disappointed and sad look he had been having since we first argued back at Rian's garage and fuck it, I wanted to get away from Lisa and rush to him and kiss him, but for real this time. I wanted to slow dance with him and not Lisa. I wanted to be the one talking and laughing with him, not Zack. It almost seemed as if his dark brown eyes were daring me to do so, as if they were luring me. 

"I was also looking forward to tonight." She smiled at me, she looked so happy, and it made me feel like shit, because I was starting to realize I could never be what she, and what I originally, wanted us to be. "I really like you, Alex." 

But, as I heard those words, all I could pay attention to was Jack laughing while leaning on Zack, touching his arm, looking at him. So maybe Lisa liked me, but it was clear I didn't; because if I did I wouldn't be feeling jealous of my own best friend, I wouldn't be dying to have Jack looking at me like he was looking at Zack, and for him to touch me and kiss me like the other couples in the room were, and to just have him talking to me again and laughing together at his stupid jokes. I had to stop lying to myself and pretend to be something I wasn't, because I was just making a mess out of everything and everyone. So, as I got away from Lisa, walking straight to where Jack was standing, I decided it was about time I stopped lying to myself and everyone. Lisa was screaming for me behind me, yet this night was all about Jack, it had been since he stepped into the room, and I'd have to fix things with that girl later, because right now, all my senses were screaming for Jack Barakat. 

I stopped in front of him, making him stop laughing at whatever Zack had said, and having him look at me surprised, as if he hadn't expected me to stop our staring contest from the distance and actually have the balls to go to him. We locked eyes again and, for a moment, I felt breathless. It felt as if I had all I ever wanted, and needed, right in front of me. 

"Come with me." I said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him to the back door of the gym. 

We ended up in the bleachers, outside, in the winter cold, making me shiver while I saw the clouds of my breath fade into the darkness of the night as I tried to come up with something to say. I had been so impulsive by pulling him out here that now I didn't know what to say, not what to do. I just knew I wanted to be with him and that I couldn't stand another second inside of that place. 

"I..." I trailed off, yet I was interrupted by Jack taking off his baby blue jacket and putting it on my shoulders with a soft smile, rubbing my arms a bit to try and warm me up. 

"So Zack was right, you really are a jealous guy." I blushed, more than I already was for having Jack's jacket on. It seemed like Zack knew more about me than just my jealousy tendencies, he might even know me better than I did if he was able to catch up before me that I might have feelings for this blue-haired guy. "Who would've thought that was all it took for Mr. Alex Gaskarth to walk straight -well, maybe more like gay- to me and pull me outside, dropping his cute little date." 

I took a step closer. "First off, that was a terrible pun, Barakat." 

He chuckled, leaning closer. "You still loved it, and you know it." 

I shock my head, without being able to hold back my smile. 

"Second of all, " I continued. "Shut up and kiss me."

Jack didn't waste another second as he grabbed my face in his hands and pressed his lips on mine. I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him impossibly closer, wanting more and more and more. This felt right, so fucking right it was crazy. It went against all I've ever thought I knew, it was stronger than anything I had ever felt before. I was hocked up on the feeling of his lips on mine, of his tongue slowly but decisively slipping into my mouth, making the kiss sloppy and fast, fulled by lust and want but also with love and care. His hands softly caressing my face. And when we kissed, it felt as if all of my doubts melted away. When we kissed, I could picture a whole life with this idiot. With stupid adventures that would surely get us into trouble, the cliché af house on the hill and the four kids. When we kissed, I was sure I wanted to stay by his side. 

We pulled away and we both smiled, resting our foreheads together. And I thought about how easy it all felt when we were just out here kissing, and how hard it was when I over-thought it all too much. Because I was scared, this was all so new, and it was sure as hell more comfortable staying in your comfort zone, but nothing ever happens behind safe walls. So I was gonna break down these walls. For Jack. 

"Maybe I also like you." I whispered, mere centimeters away from his lips. 

"No, shit, Sherlock." He laughed. 

And we kissed again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry lisa your man's gay 
> 
> also thank you everyone who left comments and kudos on this so far <3 
> 
> -cris xx


End file.
